Chatty

I took this video of Avery on Christmas day in her swing. She LOVES her swing, and it always bring out lots of smiles, and chatting. Usually when I try to record her chatting, she stops the minute I press the button, but she was chatty for this video, and I just have to share it! Who knows what she's saying...but she sure is cute!

For those of you who don't have kids yet...you'll see how amazing something as simple as your child making sounds can be! I never thought I'd be so amazed by something like this, but parenthood sure does change you!! Avery is so much fun, and she's only 2 months old...I can't wait for the rest of her childhood to unfold. Lots of good times ahead for sure :)

Avery's first Christmas

Here is a clip we took of Avery on Christmas morning. It was a really relaxed morning with her, and I got to play with my Christmas gift- Kodak's version of a flip cam! So cool!

We are a little bummed because my family's flights got canceled due to the snow storm. They wouldn't be able to come out until Wednesday, and they have to go back two days later, so there wasn't much point in them flying out just for two days.

We had a fun Christmas with our friends Stew and Claire, and both their families...but we missed ours for sure!

Growing girl...

Today Avery is 2 months old! We went to the doctor, and she had her shots (which weren't nearly as bad as I thought they'd be). She's weighing in at a whopping 12 lbs 12 oz, and 24 inches long! She's super healthy, and growing like a champ! She smiles ALL the time, coos (sp?) at us (and strangers), and is such a fun little girl. She's more aware, and alert every day. Here is a picture I took of her this morning!

Chill...real chill

John and I were wrapping presents in the dining room, and decided to put Avery in her vibrating chair in front of the Christmas tree for a few minutes. We figured the lights would entertain her, and the vibrations of the chair would keep her chill. Man- she loved it! She started cooing, and ended up hanging out in her chair in front of the tree for about 30 minutes! Thank you God for a chill baby! We'll see if she stays this way...

Secret Santa

Last night we celebrated Christmas Secret Santa with some close friends, and it was so much fun! We pulled names for Secret Santa a few weeks ago. We met at Red Robin for dinner, and then everyone came back to our house to exchange gifts, and hang out for a bit. Everyone got great gifts for each other, and it was so good spending time with our friends. Since having Avery we haven't been able to hang out with people as much as we used to (a change we're getting used to), and having the gang together was great! There were so many kids and babies at the house last night- it was pretty cool!

Bright eyes

Look at the bright eyes on this sweet girl! I love looking at her, and trying to figure out what she's thinking about...

Blessed beyond measure

Life is different these days, there's no doubt about it! I can honestly say that pretty much every aspect of my life has changed since having Avery: the way I spend my time, my energy, my body, our marriage, our finances, my job: private tutoring, meals, and everything in between. People tell you how much life changes once you have a baby, but you don't really understand until it happens to you. And although life is different, I feel so blessed...blessed beyond measure!

I know everyone says their baby is wonderful...but Avery truly is an awesome baby! For the last month, she's been sleeping in her crib, not in our room, which is a big milestone for new parents. I decided early on that I wanted to try moving her to her nursery, instead of having her in the bassinet in our room. It was a much smoother transition that I expected. And for the last two weeks, she's been sleeping 7+ hours straight at night. There have been about five nights within the last two weeks where she's slept 9 or 10 hours! Now that's pretty amazing for a 6 week old baby! She's also nursing really well, and gaining weight like a champ! All things that new mothers 'worry' about.

An area of motherhood that I need to work on is getting out with her more. I'm good at it when I have someone else to help, but when it's just me- it can be pretty overwhelming. By the time I get to my destination, she's usually asleep, and then getting her in/out of the car will normally wake her up. She'll then fall back asleep, but again...getting back in the car will wake her up...and then the cycle just keeps going. And since she's on a 3 hour feeding schedule, trying to get errands done in that short time is a challenge.

Like I said before, we've been blessed greatly with a beautiful, healthy, funny baby and I am so glad that God chose Avery to be ours. I read the scripture verse on her wall to her every night before I put her to bed:

'I prayed for this child, and the Lord granted me what I asked of him.'
~ 1 Samuel 1:27